Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
I heard the rowdy boys get in line behind me, but I didn’t acknowledge them until one of them decided to open their mouth.
“Jesus, are you expecting a flood?”
I turned and gave cold eyes to the boy closest to me.
He was all of sixteen, at most, all lanky bones and styled hair.
His collar was pulled up on its end, coming to a stop right below his ears.
His pants hung low with a chain going from his wallet to his outer belt loop.
And his shoes. Well, don’t even get me started on the shoes.
They were just plain hideous.
The boy stepped back when my cold eyes met his, and held up his hands in apology. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
I snorted and turned my head back to the total as the woman rang it up.
Thirty-seven dollars, three boxes of tampons, and seventeen candy bars later, I was standing by the front door with my arms crossed against my chest watching as Baylee slowly made her way to the front of the store.
The ache in her ribs a lot more evident now that she had the problem temporarily fixed.
Not one hint of embarrassment shown on her face, though. In fact, she looked somewhat pleased, if what I read on her face was correct.
That surprised me since I vividly remembered my sister getting her period while we were visiting a zoo in junior high, while we were with a group of friends.
Now I could laugh about the fact that she’d made me buy tampons and toss them into the women’s bathrooms like they were bombs.
She’d come out beat red, and refused to look at me, or any of my friends, for the rest of the trip.
I’d been grateful that she’d not said anything else, either.
My friends, on the other hand, had teased not only her, but me for the rest of the day.
Baylee didn’t show one single sign of embarrassment.
We were silent as I drove back to the hotel where my bike was parked, stopped for the package in my saddlebags, and still silent as I paid for a room for us to stay in for the night.
As the elevator doors closed on the busy lobby, I finally turned and looked into Baylee’s eyes. Or at least tried to.
My hat was pulled low over her eyes again, making it hard for me to see her face.
Reaching forward, I tipped the hat back until I could see her eyes, and what I saw nearly tore me to shreds.
She was silently crying.
Her eyes were leaking fat tears that trailed down her face, and disappeared down the collar of my sweatshirt that she still wore.
Closing the distance between them, I lifted my hand and dashed the tears away with the palm of my hand. “Stop crying. You’re tearing me apart.”
She nodded, closed her lips tightly, and visibly willed her tears to stop.
She wasn’t successful though.
“Come on.” I said, as I gave her hand a small tug when the elevator doors opened on the seventh floor.
I’d purchased the biggest room they had on the top floor, at the end of the hallway. I really hated the traffic outside hotel room doors.
In fact, I would’ve rather gone home, but I wanted neutral territory for Baylee, and my place wouldn’t offer that.
Once I sat her down on the bed, I tossed the package on the bed beside her and started to pace.
“Okay.” I said. “I think it’s time we had a long discussion. First and foremost, we’ll start with why you left tonight. Talk to me.”
My demand hit her hard, and she turned her face down so the hat concealed her eyes.
Frustrated, I ripped the hat off her head and threw it to the ground at her feet. “Let me see your fucking eyes!”
She flinched back from the booming sound of my voice, and then flinched again in pain.
Which made me feel like a world class shit.
“I’m sorry. Do you need another pain pill?”
At the shake of her head, I continued. “Please talk to me.”
It took her a few minutes, but she finally answered.
“You never tell me anything about your life.” She swallowed hard. “It’s like you keep that part of you separate from me. Like you don’t want me to be a part of that.”
I sighed, and dropped down to the red chair that faced the bed and let my head fall into my hands. “You never acted interested in that part of my life. I didn’t know if you wanted to be a part of it.”
She snorted.
I looked up, barely keeping my glare from taking over my face.
She looked tiny sitting there in my huge sweatshirt.
It was an old one from the very early days from my stint in the Marines.
Her blonde hair was in a messy bun at the top of her head. Her eyes were red, her cheeks splotchy.
And she was beautiful.
“When I tell you about the club, bring you in, what you do and don’t do becomes my responsibility. This isn’t something that you can just leave if it gets to be too much for you. You’ll have to stay and work it out with me. You won’t be able to talk to your mom, or your brother. You’ll have me, and the club. Sometimes my sister, but not even she knows everything. Do you think you can handle that?”
She hesitated.
Going on a hunch, I let her in.
All the way.
And when I left two hours later, I still didn’t know which way she was going to run.
Towards me, or away from me.
Chapter 17
This bitch won’t fall off.
-T-shirt
Baylee
I looked down at the leather vest again. For the millionth time.
It sure was beautiful.
The stitching was extraordinary.
And the patch that said, ‘Property of Shiva,’ gave me tingles.
I’d gone over what Sebastian had said hundreds of times.
I examined every word that had come out of his mouth over and over again, looking at it from every angle I could think of, and kept coming up with one single truth.
I loved him; did it even matter at this point whether I liked the club?